Justina Machado to Star in Mario Garcia’s Indie Comedy “The Throwback”

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s throwback time for Justina Machado.

The 49-year-old Puerto Rican actress will star opposite Will Sasso in The Throwback, an indie comedy marking the feature directorial debut of Mario Garcia.

The project will be heading into production in Tampa next month.

The film follows a married couple (Machado and Sasso) in full-blown midlife crisis who are thrown into further turmoil when the wife (Machado), an underappreciated and stressed ‘supermom,’ suffers a post-traumatic breakdown during the holiday season, causing her to regress to her 19-year-old college party-girl self.

Garcia wrote the script and will produce via his company Garcia Interactive, alongside Michael A. Alfieri of Miantri Films and Doug Fox. Machado and Sasso’s longtime manager, Danielle Del, will executive produce alongside Machado and Sterling Macer Jr.

Machado recently starred as Penelope on Sony Picture Television’s revival of One Day at a Time. She will next be seen in the Blumhouse-produced Amazon series, The Horror of Dolores Roach.

The actress has also been seen on series like Queen of the South, Jane the Virgin and Six Feet Under, among many others.

Her additional film credits include All Together Now, The Purge: Anarchy, The Call and The Accidental Husband.

Justina Machado to Star in Amazon Studios’ Pilot “The Horror of Dolores Roach”

Posted on June 2, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a scary time for Justina Machado…

Amazon Studios has given a formal pilot order to The Horror of Dolores Roach, starring the 48-year-0ld Puerto Rican actress.

Based on the hit Gimlet podcast and written and directed by podcast creator Aaron Mark, The Horror of Dolores Roach originally was developed by Mark as a one-woman play starring Daphne Rubin-Vega.

It’s a grotesque Sweeney Todd-inspired tale of eat or be eaten — a macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism and survival of the fittest.

“Magic Hands” Dolores Roach (Machado) is released from prison after 16 years and returns to a severely gentrified Washington Heights with $200 and the clothes on her back. With her boyfriend missing, her family long gone and her apartment now occupied by strangers, Dolores finds respite in the dilapidated storefront Empanada Loca around the corner — the only remnant of her former life.

Roxann Dawson is attached to direct and executive produce the pilot, which has been casting for the past four months. The project, in development at Amazon since 2020, hails from Blumhouse Television, which won the rights to adapt the podcast in 2019 in a competitive situation, and Spotify.

Mark penned the pilot script and will executive produce alongside Home Before Dark co-creator Dara Resnik and Rubin-Vega. Jason Blum, Chris McCumber and Jeremy Gold of Blumhouse Television and Chris Giliberti and Justin McGoldrick of Spotify also will executive produce.

Machado most recently starred in the One Day at a Time reimagining, garnering multiple award nominations and winning two Imagen Awards for her role.

She previously shared in a SAG Award for her role in the Emmy-winning HBO series Six Feet Under.

Her other television credits include Jane the Virgin and Queen of the South.

Her work in film includes Blumhouse Productions’ The Purge: Anarchy, Netflix’s All Together Now and the indie Pedro.

On stage, Machado made her Broadway debut in the Tony-winning musical In the Heights, created by and starring Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Nicholas Gonzalez to Star in the Survival Thriller “Borrego”

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Nicholas Gonzalez is ready to lay down the law…

The 44-year-old Mexican American actor will star opposite Lucy Hale in the survival thriller Borrego.

Hale will play a young botanist who relocates to a small desert town to study an invasive plant species. While out conducting research, she comes to the aid of a downed plane only to find herself taken captive by an inexperienced drug mule who forces her to lead a trek across the sweltering desert to his drop.

The local sheriff (portrayed by Gonzalez) is drawn into the hunt as his rebellious daughter sets out to find the missing botanist, all while being pursued by a local drug receiver.

Costa Rican actor Leynar Gómez, Latino actor Jorge A. Jimenez and Mexican American actress Olivia Trujillo round out the cast.

Jesse Harris will direct the film from his own script, and he’ll produce. Hale will serve as executive producer.

Gonzalez currently stars on ABC’s The Good Doctor. His other television credits include appearances on Being Mary Jane, Narcos, How to Get Away With Murder and Pretty Little Liars.

His film credits include The Purge: Anarchy, Falling Awake and Rockaway.

Justina Machado Signs with United Talent Agency (UTA)

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Justina Machado has new representation…

The 46-year-old Puerto Rican actress, who stars on Netflix’s rebooted Norman Lear series One Day at a Time, has signed with United Talent Agency (UTA).

Machado, who scored a SAG Award in 2004 as part of the ensemble cast of HBO’s Six Feet Under, has appeared on Season 4 of CW’s Jane the Virgin and USA Network’s Queen of the South, and she voices Carmen on Disney Junior’s Elena of Avalor.

Her big-screen credits include The Purge: Anarchy and The Accidental Husband. On the stage, she made her Broadwaydebut in In the Heights and also appeared in A Free Man of Color.

On One Day at a Time, which follows three generations of a Cuban-American family, Machado stars as Penelope Alvarez, a single mom and military veteran raising two strong-willed, mega-millennial children, all the while enlisting the “help” of her old-school mother and her building manager-turned-confidante. Rita Moreno, Todd Grinnell, Stephen Toblowsky, Isabella Gomezand Marcel Ruiz co-star.

The series from Lear and Sony Television is underway on shooting its third season, which will air in 2019.

She had been with APA and continues to be repped by D2 Management.

Lopez Wins ‘Best Scared-As-S**t Performance’ at the MTV Movie Awards

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Jennifer Lopez is the fight queen…

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican actress, singer and American Idol judge picked up the second “golden popcorn” statue of her career at Sunday’s MTV Movie Awards, which honor the biggest movies of the year.

Lopez, who previously won an MTV Movie Award in 2001 for Best Dressed for her sizzling The Cell looks, took home the prize for Best Scared-As-S**t Performance in The Boy Next Door.

Lopez beat out Gone Girl’s Rosamund Pike, The Maze Runner’s Dylan O’Brien, Annabelle’s Annabelle Wallis and The Purge: Anarchy’s Zach Gilford for the award, which celebrates the freakiest frights on film.

The awards show, broadcast on MTV, was filmed live from the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live. Comedian Amy Schumer hosted the show.

Here’s the full list of winners.

Movie of the Year
“The Fault in Our Stars”

Best Female Performance
Shailene Woodley – “Fault in Our Stars”

Best Male Performance
Bradley Cooper – “American Sniper”

Best Comedic Performance
Channing Tatum – “22 Jump Street”

Breakthrough Performance
Dylan O’Brien – “The Maze Runner”

Best Kiss
Ansel Elgort & Shailene Woodley – “Fault in Our Stars”

Best Duo
Zac Efron & Dave Franco – “Neighbors”

Best Scared-as-S*** Performance
Jennifer Lopez – “The Boy Next Door”

Best Shirtless Performance
Zac Efron – “Neighbors”

Best Fight
Dylan O’Brien vs. Will Poulter – “The Maze Runner”

Best WTF Moment
Seth Rogen & Rose Byrne – “Neighbors”

Best Villain
Meryl Streep – “Into the Woods”

Best Musical Moment
Jennifer Lawrence – “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1″

Best On-Screen Transformation
Elizabeth Banks – “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1″

DirecTV Releases First Trailer for “Kingdom,” Starring Sanchez

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Kiele Sanchez’s kingdom has come…

DirecTV has released the first trailer for its upcoming MMA-themed drama series Kingdom, starring the 37-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress.

Previously titled Navy St., the 10-episode drama is described as a gritty family drama set in the Mixed Martial Arts world.

Frank Grillo (Prison Break) stars as Alvey Kulina, an MMA legend and owner of a Venice California-based Mixed Martial Arts gym.

Nick Jonas, formerly of the Jonas Brothers, plays Alvey’s close-shaved and ripped prize-fighter son Nate. Jonathan Tucker (The Ruins, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) plays Nate’s younger brother, a world-class athlete who lost everything. And Kiele Sanchez (Lost, The Glades, The Purge: Anarchy) plays Alvey’s current girlfriend Lisa Prince, while Joanna Going (House of Cards) plays Alvey’s ex-wife Christina.

Kingdom premieres October 8 at 9:00 pm ET exclusively on DIRECTV’s Audience, channel 239.

Diaz’s “Sex Tape” Hitting Theaters One Week Earlier

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Cameron Diaz’s sex tape will be released one week earlier…

The 41-year-old half-Cuban American actress’ latest comedy Sex Tape had been slated to hit U.S. theaters on July 25, but Sony Pictures has moved up its release to July 18.

Sex Tape, co-starring Jason Segel, now avoids facing off against Paramount’s Hercules, Universal Pictures’ Lucy and Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment’s Step Up All In.

Instead the film will go up against Universal’s The Purge: Anarchyand Warner Bros sci-fi film Jupiter Ascending.

Diaz and Segel star as young parents whose homemade sex video is accidentally synched to a handful of other devices (including her mother’s and the mailman’s), and they embark on a wild quest to retrieve them.

Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper and Rob Lowe also star in Sex Tape, which was directed by Jake Kasdan.

Kate Angelo, Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller penned the screenplay from a story by Angelo.

Sanchez Joins the Cast of DirecTV’s MMA-Based Drama “Navy St.”

Posted on February 14, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Well, it didn’t take Kiele Sanchez long to find her next television project…

The 37-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress is following up her four-season run on A&E’s The Glades with a role on DirecTV’s gritty drama series Navy St.

Sanchez, who is starring in the horror thriller The Purge: Anarchy later this year, and Nick Jonas have been added to the 10-episode original series from Byron Balasco and Endemol Studios.

The dark family drama is set against the backdrop of Navy Street, a Venice, California-based mixed martial arts (MMA) gym owned by Alvey Henderson (portrayed by Frank Grillo), a former fighter who never made it big due to a drug addiction but is now sober.

Sanchez will play Lisa Prince, Alvey’s long-time girlfriend.

Meanwhile, Jonas will play Nate Henderson, Alvey’s youngest son and the prized fighter at the gym, joining Jonathan Tucker who plays Alvey’s eldest son.

Filming is scheduled to begin in Los Angeles on May 5 for a fall premiere.

Trailer Released for Sanchez’s Horror Thriller “The Purge: Anarchy”

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Kiele Sanchez is feeling the urge to Purge…

The 37-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress, best known for her starring role in the A&E drama series The Glades, is starring in the sequel to the hit horror thriller The Purge.

Blumhouse Productions has now released the first trailer for the sequel, now entitled The Purge: Anarchy.

James DeMonaco returns as writer-director-producer as does the premise: what happens in a dystopian future on the one night of the year when crime is legal.

Frank Grillo, Zach Gilford, Michael K. Williams, Carmen Ejogo and Zoe Soul also star in the film.

The Purge: Anarchy will be released on June 20.

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